Arthur von Wiesen

Painter, graphic artist, illustrator, teacher. Born in Riga in the family of a German forester called Vladimir von Wiesen (30 December 1882). Studied under Konstantin Gorsky and Vasily Baksheyev at the Moscow School of Painting, Sculpture and Architecture (1901–04) and in the studio of Gardner and Heymann in Munich (1904–06). Joined Mikhail Larionov’s group (1910s). Headed a studio of art in Tambov (1915–22). Taught at the Nizhny Novgorod Technical College of Art (1923–26). Returned to Tambov (1926). Lived in Moscow (from 1929). Exiled for ten months to Karaganda on account of his German background (1942–43). Allowed to return to Moscow after the artists Pyotr Konchalovsky, Sarra Lebedeva, Vera Mukhina and Vladimir Tatlin and the architect Lev Rudnev secured the support and intercession of Rosalia Zemlyachka, deputy chairwoman of the Central Committee Party Control Commission (1943). Painted the Karaganda series of watercolours in Moscow. Honoured Artist of the RSFSR (1970). Died in Moscow (1973). Contributed to exhibitions (from 1904). Contributed to the exhibitions of the Blue Rose (1907), Wreath (1908), Wreath/Stephanos (1909), Union of Youth (1909–13, 1917), Knave of Diamonds (1910), Moscow Salon (1911), Donkey’s Tail (1912), World of Art (1913), Makovets (1921–25), Society of Moscow Artists (1928–30), one-man shows at the Moscow branch of the Union of Artists (1958) and the Union of Artists House (1969) and a posthumous one-man show at the Central House of the Artist in Moscow (1984).